Explain what is meant by "globalisation". Is it really a myth?
Globalization is the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour around
the world, by big commercial companies, which have massive control of the
world's economy, transcending the boundaries of state and country. This
transcendence across countries results in the shrinking of the economy and
results on it depending on larger companies with a controlling interest in most
of the capital within it. This global control of capital comes through the
transference of operations from "superpower" economies, to third world
countries. This transference takes place for purely economic gains, with
companies seeking to take advantage of lower wages and a large unskilled labor
force. A very good example of this is the footwear industry, in which footwear
giants such as Reebok and Nike, regularly shift their manufacturing base to
countries with lower wage scales. Globalisation can be looked at from five
different aspects; economically, technologically, politically, culturally and
environmentally. Economically, globalisation has been greatly encouraged since
the Second World War, with the introduction of free trade agreements such as
GATT (General Agreement on Tariff's and Trade). Additionally, regional trade
agreements have also been developed, which have included 'single markets'
established by the European Community and NAFTA (North American Free Trade
Agreement). Technologically, the Information Technology revolution has resulted
in massive improvements in communication, through faxes, email, and the
internet. These improvements have resulted in the world becoming a smaller place
as world-wide interaction is both quick and easy. Culturally, there has been a
spreading of globalisation through the media of films, television and music. For
example, following the Second World War, the USA fearing the rise of communism,
actively encouraged and subsidised the world-wide distribution of films
effectively advertising the benefits of capitalism and the American Dream. As a
consequence to the dilution of cultures, Environmentally problems are
increasingly becoming global problems. Therefore, countries are no longer able
to look at environmental issues in isolation. This has been dramatically
illustrated for example by the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, the depletion of
the ozone layer and acid rain over Scandinavia. Countries now need to act
collectively for there to be any chance of reversing or just slowing the damage
being caused to the environment.